Inventology: How We Dream Up Things That Change the World

Description

Find out where great ideas come from. A businessman struggles with his luggage at an airport and pioneers the wheeled suitcase. An engineer watches people using walkie-talkies and dreams up the mobile phone. A printer is frustrated by his unpredictable inks and creates the Pantone colour system. Why were these particular people able to identify a problem, and how did they discover the solutions that everyone else missed? Where exactly did their great ideas come from, and how did they go about making them a reality? In pursuit of answers, Pagan Kennedy has spent her career examining the creative process, interviewing inventors and engineers, scientists, psychologists and economists in a bid to understand how we create. In Inventology Kennedy collects their wisdom and explores a series of landmark inventions, taking us through the processes by which we have come to dream up new products and technologies, and conceived solutions to `impossible' problems. A must-read for anyone who is curious about imagination, design and innovation, Inventology will inspire and entertain, and will show you how to become more creative.

Pagan Kennedy is a writer, journalist and former Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT, where she studied microbiology and neuro-engineering. She also held a Lemelson Fellowship at the Smithsonian Institute and is the author of several works of fiction and non-fiction. Her journalism has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Boston Globe Magazine, The New York Times Book Review and other publications.

"Elegant prose and excellent reporting." * The New York Times * "Pagan Kennedy helps explore the relationship between serendipity and an inventive mind." * Slate * "There's ample interest here even for readers who aren't actively inventing anything. Each of us, Kennedy writes, has experienced unique events that could turn out to be "the seed of invention." We've all got ideas, and they've never been more powerful." * Boston Globe * "A delightful account of how inventors do what they do." * Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review) * "Offers a new perspective into the process of invention that will inform and illuminate." * Publishers Weekly * "Pagan Kennedy's book explores how new tech tools like crowdfunding and 3D printing have changed the game for budding inventors." * Tech Republic * "A look at the ways people invent, what fuels creativity, and how those methods have changed in the 21st century." * The Week *